


this place about to blow

by splendidlyimperfect



Series: i'm with them [48]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dancing and Singing, Drinking, Established Relationship, Fluff and Crack, Kissing, M/M, Multi, Natsu has ADHD and is bored, Polyamory, Sting's a sweetheart, Taxes, Tequila, Tequila-drunk Rogue likes country music, gay dorks in love, they drink tequila and do origami together, they listen to Kesha, they're all gay and bad at math, they're in quarantine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:29:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23799286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/splendidlyimperfect/pseuds/splendidlyimperfect
Summary: Social distancing sucks, and Natsu's ADHD is going into overdrive being stuck in the apartment for a month with the other three.
Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel/Sting Eucliffe, Rogue Cheney/Gray Fullbuster, Rogue Cheney/Natsu Dragneel, Rogue Cheney/Natsu Dragneel/Sting Eucliffe/Gray Fullbuster, Rogue Cheney/Sting Eucliffe, Sting Eucliffe/Gray Fullbuster
Series: i'm with them [48]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1181153
Comments: 21
Kudos: 141
Collections: my heart is too big for just one of you





	this place about to blow

**Author's Note:**

> This is absolute crack that we came up with at a late hour because social distancing sucks and we miss each other. Time is a construct, it's always Wednesday, April has five hundred days. 
> 
> Also taxes are due next week and I haven't even started getting my shit together. 
> 
> Title from "Blow" by Kesha.
> 
> Find me on tumblr as [@splendidlyimperfect](https://splendidlyimperfect.tumblr.com/) or check out the OT4 blog at [@gratsustingue-the-ot4](https://gratsustingue-the-ot4.tumblr.com/)

“Can you turn down your music?”

Natsu turned from where he was washing dishes to look at Gray, who was sitting at the kitchen table with his head in his hands as he stared at a stack of paper.

“I just turned it on,” Natsu argued.

“I know that,” Gray said, exhaling sharply through his nose. “Everyone in the apartment complex knows that. Can you turn it down? I’m trying to focus.”

“I thought you were done work at four,” Natsu said as he reluctantly lowered the volume. The clock on the oven read 5:23 p.m.

“Yes, well, I’m theoretically done at four,” Gray said. “But I also thought it was Saturday, so…” He shrugged.

“Isn’t it Thursday?”

“Tuesday.” Gray yawned. “And this isn’t work.”

Natsu raised an eyebrow at the stack of papers sitting under a calculator. “Looks like work to me.”

“It’s our taxes,” Gray said. He leaned back in the chair and rubbed his face. “It’s ridiculous, I don’t understand why it’s fifty-three pages long. It’s way too hard.”

“That’s what she said.” Natsu grinned but Gray just glared at him. “Oh, c’mon, babe.”

“Don’t ‘c’mon, babe,’ me,” Gray grumbled. “Look, because Rogue is self-employed, I have to calculate the depreciation of—”

“Babe.” Natsu stepped forward, grabbing both of Gray’s hands and pulling him up from the chair. “I love you more than anything except possibly Sting’s cookies, but right now, you need to shut all the way up about taxes and let me listen to Kesha.”

“But—”

Natsu shook his head, interrupting Gray’s protests with a quick kiss and pulling him close. “Fifty-three pages is way too many taxes. The apartment’s gonna explode; I’m doing us all a favor.”

“That’s…” Gray huffed. “I wanna be mad but honestly I’m sick of all the math.”

“Then come dance with me,” Natsu said, letting go of Gray’s hands and settling them on his hips instead. “Or you could help me with the dishes.”

Gray hummed, then frowned as he looked over Natsu’s shoulder. “What _is_ that?”

“A salad spinner.”

“I didn’t even know we owned a salad spinner.”

“Me neither,” Natsu said, slipping his hands under Gray’s shirt and running them up his back. “It was in the cupboard under the microwave.”

“Which you aren’t supposed to touch.”

“I didn’t! Just the cupboard.”

Gray raised an eyebrow. “So, why are you washing the salad spinner from under the microwave cupboard where none of us have looked since we moved in here?”

“Because I’m fucking _bored._ Sting’s not here, you’re working, and Rogue threatened to tie me up – and not in the good way – if I kept bugging him. I can’t sit still long enough to read, it’s raining so I can’t go for a walk, we’ve watched all the Star Wars movies, I can’t bake any more cookies ‘cause the pantry is full, and I’ve unlocked literally every character in Smash Bros.” He sighed, leaning forward and pressing his forehead to Gray’s shoulder. “’m sorry for bugging you.”

The frustrated tension in Gray’s neck melted away and he wrapped his arms around Natsu, kissing the top of his head. “No, I’m sorry,” he said. “I know this is harder for you than the rest of us.”

Natsu shook his head. “It sucks for everyone,” he insisted. “I just feel like it’s been eighty-seven years since I’ve seen anyone other than you guys.”

“I know. I’m honestly even starting to miss Chad.”

Gray stared at the calendar over Natsu’s shoulder. What was normally a rainbow of color-coded appointments was now mostly blank, with the occasional “call maman” or “garbage day” penciled in. None of them – except Sting, who was their designated grocery and errands person – had left the apartment for anything other than short walks in nearly five weeks.

“All right,” Gray said, pulling back and squeezing Natsu’s hands.

“All right what?”

“Turn your music back on,” Gray said. “I’ll dance with you.” 

* * *

Sting could hear country music playing before he even opened the door to the apartment. He frowned as he shifted the grocery bags and tray of coffee cups into one hand and unlocked the door, then pushed it open and was welcomed by four purring cats.

“Hello, darlings,” Sting said, nudging them all out of the way and closing the door behind him. Soleil meowed loudly at him, rubbing herself against his leg. “Poor babies, has nobody fed you?”

“They’re dirty liars,” Natsu said from the kitchen, turning around and giving the cats an unimpressed look as he turned down the music. “We fed them an hour ago.” He wiped his hands on the dish towel and moved toward the door, then sighed and backed up at the last second.

“Gimme a sec,” Sting said apologetically, stepping past Natsu into the kitchen and setting down the bags and the coffee. “And yes, before you ask, I found pizza pops _and_ Oreos.”

“Yesss.” Natsu hopped up on one of the stools on the other side of the counter and peered eagerly into the bags. “You’re the best.” 

“I try.” Sting started wiping down the containers as he pulled them out of the grocery bags. “Where are the other two?”

“Gray’s on the balcony,” Natsu said. “He’s not smoking, I checked. I heard him yell ‘fuck’ at one point but I’m pretty sure he’s fine. I mean, as fine as he can be.”

“Mm.”

“And Rogue is—”

“Right here.” Sting frowned and it took him a second to realize that Rogue was sitting at the kitchen table, head in his arms, hidden behind a pile of paperwork.

“Ah.” Sting raised an eyebrow at Natsu. “Who gave him tequila and why?”

“That’s profiling,” Rogue said absently without looking up. “You can’t say that.”

Sting rolled his eyes, tossing the bags in the garbage and closing the fridge. “You’re listening to Shania Twain, babe. How much have you had?”

“Four shots,” Natsu replied helpfully as Sting washed his hands.

“Slander,” Rogue said absently. “It’s…” He frowned and finally looked up at Sting, gaze slightly unfocused. “Hm. Maybe you’re right.”

Sting shrugged. “That’s four less than the first time you filed our taxes,” he said, then turned and reached out to Natsu. “Somehow he actually manages to do math better when he’s drunk.”

“Am I allowed to hug you now?” Natsu asked, pulling Sting close and sighing happily as he pressed his cheek to Sting’s neck. “What’s the outside world like?”

“Dystopic,” Sting replied. He kissed Natsu’s temple. “Zombies everywhere. Without toilet paper, order has been lost.”

“Hm.” Natsu nuzzled Sting’s cheek. “Luckily they left Starbucks intact.”

“It’s a known fact that caffeine repels zombies,” Sting said, nodding.

“In that case I think I’m safe.” Gray appeared behind the two of them and wrapped his arms around Sting from behind. “Thanks for the coffee, love.” Sting tipped his head back and kissed Gray’s cheek, then squeaked as Gray slipped cold hands under his shirt.

“How much tequila have _you_ had?” Sting asked, leaning back against Gray.

“None,” Gray insisted. Sting raised an eyebrow and Gray added, “Well, no tequila. I had a couple beers, though. Taxes are stressful.” He pressed his face into the crook of Sting’s neck.

“That’s why I hired an accountant,” Sting said, reaching out to pull Rogue into the group hug. “Because you’re all ridiculous.”

“’m not,” Rogue argued, letting Sting kiss his cheek. “We did all the maths.”

“All of them, huh?”

“Yep.” Rogue giggled as Natsu and Gray both wrapped an arm around him. “Don’t need help. Throw the whole accountant away.” He snorted with laughter and leaned against Sting’s shoulder.

“You,” Sting said, laughing, “are very drunk.”

“Look,” Rogue said. “I was dealing just fine until Gray stopped getting mad about Kesha and started singing along instead. It was a… like a different dimension. The tequila made it less real.”

“Oh my god,” Gray grumbled, at the same time that Sting asked Natsu, “You got him to sing Kesha?” 

“He knows all the words to ‘Your Love is My Drug,’” Natsu said proudly as he grabbed Gray’s hand around Sting’s waist.

Sting hummed happily in the embrace, then gently nudged all three of them away and moved over to look at the paperwork on the table. “I love you all dearly,” he said, grabbing the stack, “but I’m taking this away before Natsu sets it on fire.”

“Hey!” Natsu protested. “I was gonna fold you a beautiful paper crane!”

Sting frowned. “I… think that’s illegal? Can you do that with tax forms? Also this is like… fifty-seven pages.”

“Fifty-three,” Natsu corrected eyes, reaching out for the stack. “We’re stuck in the apartment, we have fuck all to do, and I’m pretty sure there are at _least_ fifty-three animals for me to make out of paper.”

Sting was about to argue when he noticed the way Natsu’s nails were bitten down until they were almost bleeding. “All right,” he said, handing the paper to Natsu and gesturing to the couch. “I’ll make drinks because I am _not_ having tequila.”

“Good,” Rogue said, grinning as he cuddled closer to Gray, “’cause I drank it all.”

“Go help your boyfriend make origami,” Sting said, rolling his eyes as he headed into the kitchen.

When he got back to the couch, Rogue and Gray were curled up against each other, nearly asleep with Frosche and Soleil cuddled between them. Happy sat at Natsu’s feet, batting at the balled-up paper Natsu tossed for him, while Lector lounged on the coffee table with his eyes closed. Sting took a second to watch them all - his perfectly imperfect family and all the ways they loved each other.

“Here,” Sting said, sliding down next to Natsu and handing him a beer. Then he grabbed a sheet of paper and nudged Natsu’s arm. “Now show me how to make a crane.” 


End file.
